Issue

Vol. 11 (2019)

Nitrogen-Doped Sponge Ni Fibers as Highly Efficient Electrocatalysts for Oxygen Evolution Reaction

https://doi.org/10.1007/s40820-019-0253-5
Kaili Zhang
State Key Laboratory of Silicon Materials, Key Laboratory of Advanced Materials and Applications for Batteries of Zhejiang Province, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, People’s Republic of China
Xinhui Xia
State Key Laboratory of Silicon Materials, Key Laboratory of Advanced Materials and Applications for Batteries of Zhejiang Province, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, People’s Republic of China
Shengjue Deng
State Key Laboratory of Silicon Materials, Key Laboratory of Advanced Materials and Applications for Batteries of Zhejiang Province, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, People’s Republic of China
Yu Zhong
State Key Laboratory of Silicon Materials, Key Laboratory of Advanced Materials and Applications for Batteries of Zhejiang Province, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, People’s Republic of China
Dong Xie
Guangdong Engineering and Technology Research Center for Advanced Nanomaterials, School of Environment and Civil Engineering, Dongguan University of Technology, Dongguan 523808, People’s Republic of China
Guoxiang Pan
Department of Materials Chemistry, Huzhou University, Huzhou 313000, People’s Republic of China
Jianbo Wu
Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory for Cutting Tools, Taizhou University, Taizhou 318000, People’s Republic of China
Qi Liu
Department of Physics, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon 999077, Hong Kong
Xiuli Wang
State Key Laboratory of Silicon Materials, Key Laboratory of Advanced Materials and Applications for Batteries of Zhejiang Province, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, People’s Republic of China
Jiangping Tu
State Key Laboratory of Silicon Materials, Key Laboratory of Advanced Materials and Applications for Batteries of Zhejiang Province, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, People’s Republic of China

Corresponding Author: Jiangping Tu

tujp@zju.edu.cn

Nano-Micro Letters, Vol. 11 (2019), Article Number: 21

Abstract

Controllable synthesis of highly active micro/nanostructured metal electrocatalysts for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is a particularly significant and challenging target. Herein, we report a 3D porous sponge-like Ni material, prepared by a facile hydrothermal method and consisting of cross-linked micro/nanofibers, as an integrated binder-free OER electrocatalyst. To further enhance the electrocatalytic performance, an N-doping strategy is applied to obtain N-doped sponge Ni (N-SN) for the first time, via NH3 annealing. Due to the combination of the unique conductive sponge structure and N doping, the as-obtained N-SN material shows improved conductivity and a higher number of active sites, resulting in enhanced OER performance and excellent stability. Remarkably, N-SN exhibits a low overpotential of 365 mV at 100 mA cm−2 and an extremely small Tafel slope of 33 mV dec−1, as well as superior long-term stability, outperforming unmodified sponge Ni. Importantly, the combination of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and near-edge X-ray adsorption fine structure analyses shows that γ-NiOOH is the surface-active phase for OER. Therefore, the combination of conductive sponge structure and N-doping modification opens a new avenue for fabricating new types of high-performance electrodes with application in electrochemical energy conversion devices.


Highlights:


1 Freestanding N-doped sponge Ni micro/nanofibers exhibit a porous sponge structure.
2 An N-doping strategy is adopted to optimize the catalytic activity.
3 γ-NiOOH is identified as active phase by XPS and NEXAFS analyses.

Keywords

Oxygen evolution reaction Electrocatalysis Nickel Sponge Structure Electrochemical energy conversion
Zhang, Kaili, Xinhui Xia, Shengjue Deng, Yu Zhong, Dong Xie, Guoxiang Pan, Jianbo Wu, Qi Liu, Xiuli Wang, and Jiangping Tu. 2019. “Nitrogen-Doped Sponge Ni Fibers As Highly Efficient Electrocatalysts for Oxygen Evolution Reaction”. Nano-Micro Letters 11 (March):21. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40820-019-0253-5.
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